Earlier today Steven Sinofsky and team demonstrated what to expect from Windows 8. It wasn’t a peak at some of the features but a comprehensive look at the platform for the users and developers.

Microsoft showed how the dual UI strategy comes together and the traditional Windows complements the new touch-inspired Metro-based Windows 8. One of the criticism for Windows’ dual screen strategy was once one uses the Metro versions it’ll become difficult to use the traditional Windows Explorerâ€”a perception problem of sorts. Those concerns were noted and the Windows Live team worked on Metro-inspired versions of the popular Windows Live suite.

At the BUILD conference a short demo of the Windows Live suite and how the cloud plays a critical part in offering a great user experience. Here are some screenshots:

Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Calendar

Windows Live Photo

Sharing photos through services:

Mail within the Photo app:

The thing about Windows Live Photos is that the app is currently only pulling in and aggregating photos, the editing capabilities of PhotoGallery weren’t part of the demo and hence I am not certain whether that will be a separate app or part of the Metro-fied Photos app.